Justin Trudeau pays an early visit to Cambridge ahead of Solve at MIT

Amy Saltzman asaltzman@wickedlocal.com @cambridgechron

Friday

May 18, 2018 at 12:24 PMMay 18, 2018 at 12:30 PM

In Cambridge to headline Solve at MIT, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived a day early to meet with clients and entrepreneurs of the Canadian Technology Accelerator at a roundtable May 17 at the Kimpton Marlowe Hotel in Cambridge.

CTA@Boston, which is housed in the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, connects selected Canadian companies to U.S. clients, investors and partners to help boost their businesses in industries like IT, healthcare, robotics and cleantech.

Trudeau called CTA@Boston an “amazingly successful program," which is why Canada allocated $10 million more over the next five years for its continued development. In 2016, CTA@Boston was named Accelerator Program of the Year by International Business Innovation Association.

Canada has accelerator programs in two other U.S. cities as a way to give Canadian companies a "leg up" on succeeding in the U.S., Trudeau said.

“This, for me, is really an opportunity to hear from all of you — some of you who are currently in the program, some of you who are mentors, some of you who are alumni —and really talk about how Canadian companies, particularly small- and medium-sized businesses, can be successful in an increasingly diversified global marketplace,” he said at the start of the roundtable. “It’s really a great opportunity and I look forward to learning a lot and hearing a lot and engaging on the challenges and opportunities you see.”

In an op-ed published in the Boston Globe this week, Trudeau stressed the importance of maintaining strong relationships with foreign companies in order to foster creativity.

"We know a country depends on the talent and creativity of its people," he wrote. "Innovation requires an open and welcoming environment for foreign investors and companies. It also requires that we tap previously untapped sources of creativity and entrepreneurial energy."

Learn more at ctaboston.io.

For information on Solve at MIT, visit solve.mit.edu/events/solve-at-mit-2018.